FIFA 19 Beta Review: 8 Hands-On Impressions You Need To Know
3. The Realism Will Impress And Annoy In Equal Measure
Yet again FIFA is visually stunning; from the sweat glistening on a player's brow to the awe-inspiring sights as your players trot out in one of the games many infamous stadiums, but in terms of realistic gameplay it ranges from pleasantly surprising improvements to controller-breaking frustration.
AI when both attacking and defending is much better, whereas before I'd be yelling at players to provide support or overlapping runs when going forward, as long as you've set the right tactics you'll be far more of an attacking unit with players giving you options to break opponents down. Defensively, they're far more proactive, stick with who they're marking, and are there to cut out misplaced passes far more effectively than in previous versions of the game.
On the downside, how realistic the game is when it comes to first touches and accuracy of passing will be a real source of initial annoyance. In fairness, it's good that FIFA 19 reflects the varying levels of ability but with the introduction of the 'Active Touch System' and the aforementioned passing system, things you took for granted and assumed you already had mastered will take some getting used to.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
